An Overview of Bilingual Education Essay

More young americans nowadays are being raised in homes speaking non-English, but these students are falling behind in schools where there is not a bilingual program available. According to the U.S. Department of Education, in schools without a bilingual education program, 71% of English speakers are at or above the basic requirements for fourth grade reading while merely 30% of non-English speakers reach this level. 35% of English and 8% of non-English speakers reach proficient reading levels while only 9% of English and 1% of non-English speakers perform at advanced levels. It’s evident that the availability of a bilingual program is crucial to the success of an individual who needs the resources that can be given to them through the use of bilingual education. The percentages of the non-English speaking students previously mentioned could undoubtedly be comparable to those percentages of the English speaking students if the education they were being provided with was cohesive to their comfortability, and the material being taught was in a language they could better understand.

In order to improve educational outcomes of ELL students, the school district Z needs a dual-language immersion method rather than a bilingual education. The top three policies I would propose to the local school board for dual-language immersion would be: academic/ cognitive enrichment, enhanced intercultural relations, and competence in two languages. The program provides the same academic content and addresses the equivalent standards as other educational programs. The dual-language immersion program will hopefully close the academic achievement gap between ELL students and their classmates.

Around 1959, bilingual education took flight in the United States. Starting in Miami and quickly making its way San Francisco, bilingual education soon led to the Bilingual Education Act, which promoted “No Child Left Behind”. Only twenty years later, the act acquired the attention of high schools around the country. Nonetheless, bilingual education is not always taken to be the cure-all for acclimating immigrants to the United States. In his article “Aria: A Memoir of Bilingual Childhood”, Richard Rodriguez argues that students should not take part in bilingual education by explaining how it takes away individuality and a sense of family through the use of ethos, diction, and imagery; Rodriguez also uses parallelism and ethos to point out how a bilingual childhood can help students feel connected to society.

I’d say that being bilingual it is something that has been implemented to my life at a very young age. I come from a Mexican family, a very traditional Mexican family, we love being together and always take advantage to celebrate in any occasion and if there is not a special occasion we make up one just to gather and have a good time. Most of my cousins understand and speak clearly English. Also my aunt married an American and the funny thing is that her children look completely American, in the sense that they are blonde, blue eyes, white skin, and they speak Spanish and English fluently, they are just 3 and 4 years old. What I’m trying to portray is that bilingualism is very present not only in the bilingual school I was enrolled as an infant, but it is very present as well in all of my family. I think that the best way to learn a language is to practice it continuously, but the best method out there is practicing it with native speakers and living on their country where that language is spoken. The journey on learning English for me has been very fun and enriching at the same time.

I taught for 25 years at an inner city school. My students were all second language learners, and often their parents were totally illiterate. I entered this career not as a teacher, but as a social worker turned teacher. The Los Angeles Unified School District was in dire need of bilingual educators, so they offered a district intern program where I took college courses while I worked in the classroom.

When I first started school, I remember how difficult it was for me to make the transition from Spanish to English. My Mom left me at the door of the school in the morning, but since I was placed in an English-only classroom, the next time I opened my mouth to speak to anyone was when she picked me up again that afternoon. I didn't know what anyone was saying around me, and to make matters worse, my teacher didn't speak a single word of Spanish. That day, like every other day, I came home crying because I felt like an outsider. That year was very difficult for me because I ended up in the back corner of the classroom not participating. As a result, I had to take several years of summer school in order to catch up, something that

English language learners (ELL) consisted of 22.3 percent of the total enrollment in California public schools (Facts about English Learners in California - CalEdFacts, 2015). Tends to be ignored or receives not quite the equality in education as their Native English speakers (NES) counter parts. Over the past few years there has been a surge in dual language immersion (DLI) programs (also known two-way immersion), which have resulted in much success (Lindholm-Leary, 2012, p. 256). It has been found that students in DLI programs show a high level of bilingualism and by biliteracy as well as academic achievement and cross-cultural competence (Lindholm-Leary, 2012, p. 256). Since the population of ELL students in California is so high it would appear that the best way for ELL students to get an education that is equal to their NES counterparts more DLI classes should be implemented. By applying more DLI programs California can benefit both their ELL and NES students in academic development and cross-cultural competence, which will help reduce prejudice and racism in the state.

The 1970’s was a time for movements, change, education, and the development of freedom. The book ‘Brown not White” really shows and defines this time period, and inspires everyone to try and understand what our past had entailed. The book was a true inspiration to all Americans, and in my opinion a proper tribute to all Mexican Americans.

Before outlining the arguments for and against bilingual education, it is first necessary to provide an overview of the controversy over bilingual education, and its emergence as a national debate. This controversy is basically centered on the question: Should the United States government incorporate the teaching of different languages into the public school system or not? Although it is currently permissible to learn secondary languages such as Spanish, French, German and Latin in public middle schools and high schools in the U.S., such classes have traditionally been geared toward broadening the educational experience for native English-speaking students. Therefore, rather than providing assistance to students whose native languages are not English, classes in American public schools are taught in English, despite the fact that increasing numbers of students in some areas of the U.S. do not speak English as their first language. In 1998, for example, (the most recent year for which statistics were available), statistics indicated that there were some

Over the years, bilingual education has involved teaching children academics in two different languages so they may become competent learners and be successful at acquiring English. Before 1968, bilingual education was not a required course in American schools, but instead as a voluntary program. This changed in 1981 when a lawsuit was brought against the state of Texas that resulted in the requirement of bilingual education programs in elementary schools as English as a second language (ESL) program, bilingual programs in post-elementary grades through eighth grade, and ESL programs in high school. This type of education has been a hot topic for the state governments of the United States, debating whether to keep in the curriculum of schools. Many asking themselves, why should we to provide bilingual education for these students? What will students gain from this type of education? Studies have shown there are benefits that range from cognitive ability, educational advancement, to employment opportunities with a bilingual education, while the critics label it as a “failed experiment” that costed a whole lot of money and years to maintain a basic foundation in the second language. Although the cost is hefty for this exploration of a new language and is time consuming, the cognitive abilities, educational advancement, and employment opportunities greatly outweigh these opposing factors.

In a globalized world, English is and has been universal language for communications around the world. For that reason, U.S. has never had an urgency to learn and appreciate foreign languages. Most of school systems treat language classes not important as the core curriculum. According to the current positions on bilingual education, schools in the United States teach languages at exactly the wrong time and exclude children from all the benefits that extend beyond pure communication. It’s extremely important to be bilingually educated to adapt into increasingly globalized world. Moreover, even necessary, for those who should reach out and speak at least one other language. Being bilingual comes with various advantages and immeasurable benefits.

The continued growth of speakers of languages other than English is reflected in the rapidly increasing students in U.S. schools for whom English is a second language. Data from the National Center for Education Statistics (2005) show that the number of school-age children who spoke a language other than English reached almost 10 million in 2004. Such a dramatic increase continually challenges educators to provide effective language programs with quality instruction for students who are culturally and linguistically diverse. Some educators choose to view these challenges as opportunities by offering a dual bilingual program as an educational option for meeting the needs of monolingual speakers.

Since the 1960s, two-way immersion (TWI) education programs have existed in the United States and have recently seen a surge in growth in the last two decades. Consistent research results have caused many educators, administrators and parents to recognize the benefits associated for all students involved in these programs, which has encouraged the expansion and implementation of these types of programs across the US. In addition to the need to educate the vast growing minority language demographic in the US, bilingual education leads to academic achievement for all involved (Lindhold-Leary 2004). If the research clearly shows that TWI programs not only help the language-minority groups but also the language-majority groups to achieve at or above-average grade level academic success in two languages, then why aren’t all parents urging their school administrators to implement programs in their kids schools? Although the number of TWI schools has grown significantly since the first one opened in Coral Gables, FL in 1963, the lack of common knowledge of the existence and success of these programs is one of the main factors to blame for the slow evolution of our schools into TWI based schools.

A 12-year-old boy living in a small farming village outside of Matamoras, Mexico comes home one day from school and is informed by his parents that the family is moving to Texas to stay with his aunt and uncle. The entire family packed up their belongings and caught a bus from Matamoras bound for a small-town north of Houston, Texas. As he looks out the window, he wonders about this completely different world he has stepped into. At one gas-station stop on the way up, he hears people, predominately speaking in English, a language he had heard people speaking from time to time, but had no idea what they were saying. After arriving at his aunt and uncle’s house, his family is greeted in Spanish giving him the first degree of comfort he has had since he crossed the border into Texas. The following day his non-English speaking mother takes him to a local school where she is met by a counselor who has to send for a translator to properly register her son for his first day at school. As he attempts to interpret his printed schedule, the boy makes his way to his classroom. He is met by a paraprofessional who introduces herself in English and then in Spanish as his monitoring teacher. She promises to help him get used to his new school and to transition him into the English language. This is an example of the experience that over 20,000 new immigrant children face every year in Texas schools alone, and that number is doubling as

With the powerful influence of globalization transforming every aspect of our world humans must adapt to the new cultural environment being created. One major change is that of language evolution. English is the third most spoken language worldwide after Chinese and Spanish, but it is the most popular second language overall (Haviland, Prins, Walrath, & McBride, 2014). The English language is taking over, so what, you may ask, is the point of putting in the energy to learn a second language? Why should you enrol your child in a language immersion school program? Well, as an English Canadian, learning a second language through an immersion program comes with a collection of cognitive benefits that can influence a variety of things, including mental health, academic performance, and employability, not to mentions that it plays a vital part in preserving the many cultures in our country, all while promoting acceptance diversity.